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RatnerPrestia Settles Breach of Contract and Fraud Disputes Over a Merger

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RatnerPrestia Settles Breach of Contract and Fraud Disputes Over a Merger

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

RatnerPrestia sued German law firm Stolmár & Partner for
breach of contract, fraud, and other claims. RatnerPrestia had
shared client ties with Stolmár & Partner and the two companies
had previously worked together on intellectual property issues.

When the two firms worked together
there was discussion of a merger. RatnerPrestia is an IP boutique
located in the US and was hoping to establish a location in Munich.
Stolmár was a Munich based company and had previously agreed to
merge after signing a nondisclosure agreement. Stolmár delayed the
combination of the firms and started to withhold documents after
several months of serious discussion. Stolmár continued to reassure
that they intended to move forward with the transaction.

Stolmár started to have separate private
discussions about a merger with a different law firm. They
acknowledge cold feet. They did not disclose the separate
discussions. RatnerPrestia and Stolmár continued merger
discussions.

Three attorneys agreed to the merger and a
new location opened in Munich in 2016. One of the attorneys who
agreed to the merger backed out in September of 2015 and triggered
the breach of contract by violating terms of the nondisclosure and
other contractual agreements. In January 2017 the two firms came to
an agreement, settled, and moved to dismiss the case.